Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to telecommunications and more specifically to techniques for allowing a callee to listen to a caller's voicemail message while the caller is leaving the voicemail message.
When a caller calls a callee at an end device and the callee does not answer the call, the caller is re-directed to a voicemail system for the callee. Once the call is re-directed to the voicemail system, the end device is removed from the call flow. For example, a callee cannot listen to the voicemail message being left by the caller and cannot answer the call using the end device once it is re-directed to the voicemail system. This is because the voicemail system is a separate system from the end device.
A feature allows a callee that is using the end device when the call is received to listen to a voicemail message as it is being left while on another call. Thus, the callee may be on another call with a second caller while listening to the voicemail. This is very confusing in that the callee hears the voicemail message being left and also hears anything the second caller is saying in the conversation. In this case, the voicemail system sends the voicemail message to the callee as it is being left. This uses resources of the voicemail system that might not be available. For example, if the voicemail system has to handle multiple voicemail calls for other users and also has to send the messages to callees, a voicemail system's resources may become exhausted. Also, the callee can only listen to the voicemail message if the callee is currently using the end device when the caller calls. If the callee is not using the end device, the callee will not be notified and the voicemail message will just be left by the caller.